Big Jake

Movie
German title	Big Jake
Original title	Big Jake
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Publishing year	1971
length	110 minutes
Age rating	FSK 16
Rod
Director	George Sherman
script	Harry Julian Fink Rita M. Fink
production	Michael Wayne
music	Elmer Bernstein
camera	William H. Clothier
cut	Harry W. Gerstad
occupation
John Wayne : Jacob McCandles Richard Boone : John Fain Maureen O'Hara : Martha McCandles Patrick Wayne : James McCandles Christopher Mitchum : Michael McCandles Bruce Cabot : Sam Sharpnose Bobby Vinton : Jeff McCandles Glenn Corbett : O'Brien, aka Breed John Doucette : Texas Ranger Buck Duggan Jim Davis : leader of the lynching mob John Agar : Bert Ryan Harry Carey Jr .: Pop Dawson Gregg Palmer : John Goodfellow Virginia Capers : Delilah Bill Walker : Moses Brown John McLiam : Army officer Bernard Fox : Scottish Shepherd Jim Burk : Trooper Dean Smith : James William 'Kid' Duffy Ethan Wayne : Little Jake McCandles Hank Worden : Hank Tom Hennesy : Mr. Sweet Robert Warner : Will Fain Jeff Wingfield : Billy Devries Everett Creach : Walt Devries Jerry Gatlin : Stubby

Big Jake is a 1971 western starring John Wayne in the title role. It was the last theatrical director of genre veteran George Sherman and a moderate financial success.

action

In 1909, the massive ranch near the Mexican border was attacked by Martha McCandles. The bandit John Fain causes a bloodbath with his gang and kidnaps the grandson of the owner, who has been separated from her husband Jacob alias Jake for nine years , in order to demand a ransom of one million dollars. Since she is very concerned about the boy's life, she turns down the offers of help from the Army and the Texas Rangers and instead lets Jacob notify her. When he arrives at the train station, his cheeky son James, who has been reprimanded, is waiting for him in addition to Martha; later the younger son Michael joins them on his motorcycle. He has spotted the villains and suggests to the rangers who are also present that they take immediate action to free the boy. Jacob doesn't believe in his newfangled companions (the Rangers use automobiles) and first collects his Indian friend Sam Sharpnose on horseback, whose eyesight - like his own - is no longer the best.

The Rangers ambush fails because Fain's evil bunch came up with the idea of ​​the ambush earlier; henceforth Jacob only continues the chase with Sharpnose, the two sons and his dog Dog . The ride to Mexico is accompanied by all kinds of friction, especially at the father-son level, while Fain observes the squad as well as other villains who were lured by the enormous ransom. In fact, there is an armed conflict in Escondero, but it is won by the McCandles people prepared for it. On this occasion, however, James and Michael discover that there are no banknotes in the chest that their father has brought with them, only scraps of paper. When confronted, Jacob explains to his offspring that he and Martha had this idea together - an extremely risky approach, as Fain had made it unmistakably clear that he would kill the nine-year-old if his request remained unfulfilled.

A little later, gang member Pop Dawson shows up at the hotel to escort the McCandles squad to the handover point, a secluded hacienda outside Escondero. Although Fain is well prepared and seems to have the nocturnal events firmly under control with a sniper from a bell tower, he is surprised and ultimately overwhelmed by Jacob and his colleagues - especially Michael, who is also equipped with a precision rifle. Only Sharpnose and the dog pay for the battle that eliminates all scoundrels with their lives. After that, three McCandles generations can ride home.

particularities

Big Jake's son James and his grandson are played by John Wayne's sons Patrick and Ethan Wayne . Big Jake's son Michael is played by Robert Mitchum's son Christopher . Big Jake is not only the last joint film by John Wayne and Bruce Cabot , whose joint films go back to 1947 ( The Black Rider (1947) ), but also the last of the joint films with the film partner Maureen, who is highly valued by John Wayne O'Hara . Both have in common u. a. also embodied in Rio Grande , The Victor and MacLintock Married Couples.

Reviews

• Joe Hembus calls Big Jake an "unusually bloody John Wayne movie". Phil Hardy states that the film lacks the economics of Sherman's earlier films. The result is "a mediocre film, a bunch of fights, but no point."

• Lexicon of international film : "Broad, carefully staged western with some parodic features and a subliminal affirmation of vigilante justice."

See also

• List of John Wayne films

Web links

• Big Jake in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Big Jake in the online movie database

Individual evidence

1. ^ Joe Hembus: Western Lexicon - 1272 films from 1894-1975. Carl Hanser Verlag Munich Vienna 2nd edition 1977. ISBN 3-446-12189-7 . P. 53
2. ^ Phil Hardy: The Encyclopedia of Western Movies. Woodbury Press Minneapolis 1984. ISBN 0-8300-0405-X . P. 329
3. ↑ Big Jake. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .